Premium rate SMS complaints to TIO up 231 percent.

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 01 November 2006 12:11

IT Industry - Deals

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has reported a 231 percent rise in complaint issues about premium rate SMS messages, and a 50 percent rise in mobile billing complaint issues in the year to 30 June 2006.
Overall, the reported an 11 percent increase, to 87,593 in the number of complaints received in the year. However each complaint can generate more than on 'issue' for the TIO and the number of issues rose 26.5 percent, to more than 127,000.

Ombudsman John Pinnock said the customer service complaint category had increased dramatically across all three technology types -internet, mobile and landline. "One of the key reasons for this is the failure of providers to tell dissatisfied customers that they have a right to bring their complaint to us," Pinnock said.

"Only about 17 percent of people who complain to us have been informed about us by their provider although the industry's own code of conduct says it must let dissatisfied customers know that they may complain to the TIO."

Pinnock said that complaints about premium rate SMS most commonly relate to products such as horoscopes, jokes, ringtones and chat services. "They are characterised by numbers with the prefix 19 and are billed at rates much higher than a standard SMS message."

He added that: "A new and disturbing trend is the increase in complaints about Internet service providers varying the terms and conditions of contracts without the customer's consent."

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Industry Association (AMTA) has played down the TIO's statement by pointing out that the 231 percent increase in SMS complaints represents a total of only 5890 and that the total number or complaints about mobile services, about 51,000, amounted to only 0.3 percent of the 19 million mobile subscribers.

CEO Chris Althaus, said the increase in the number of customer service complaints about mobiles, from 6639 to 13,740, in the TIO report was the result of changes in the way the TIO recorded complaints, which made direct comparison between the 2004-05 and 2005-06 figures difficult.

On the issue of premium SMS, Althaus, said: "The industry has worked for two years with the Australian Communications and Media Authority to develop the Mobile Premium Services Industry Scheme. The Scheme, which came into effect on October 29, helps ensure that customers have sufficient information, including terms and conditions, on services to enable them to make informed decisions about the use of mobile premium content services. The scheme requires carriers and content providers to give customers access to an opt-out mechanism, allowing them to quickly unsubscribe from premium content services."

However, as iTWire pointed out recently  one service that might well be compliant with these guidelines targets teenagers who are still at school and lures them into a service costing almost $100 per month with the offer of a free 'silent' ringtone of such a high frequency that older people, particularly teachers and parents cannot hear it.